Category: Event Coverage

MUMBAI: Rive Gauche Motors and More, a Rive Gauche Entertainment company, has finalised licensing agreements with few international broadcasters heading into Mipcom.

The announcement was made by Rive Gauche Motors & More SVP international sales Dorothy Crompton.

In addition, seasons three and four of the men‘s lifestyle program, Family Business, has been sold to 3 Lines/VMM in Belgium.

Rive Gauche‘s pre-market sales achievements from the Men & Motors catalogue include:

• Dmax in Germany has secured the rights to All the Gear, No Idea!
• Moto TV has acquired rights for All the Gear, No Idea! in Italy.
• Car Channel in the Netherlands has secured rights for 100 Most Popular Cars and London to Sydney Marathon.
• Auto Plus in Russia and CIS have obtained the rights to Bikes Aloud, Military Motors, Bigfoot & Friends, Automobilia, Mutant Machines, Sold in 60 Seconds, Life of Tires, Slipstream, Taxi, and Classic Motors.

MUMBAI: Daro Film Distribution has struck a deal with Thunderbird Films of Vancouver for world-wide distribution rights to the Canadian broadcaster CTV Television movie, Menace.Produced by Calgary‘s Seven24 Films and Toronto’s Slanted Wheel Entertainment.

The television-movie event will make its international debut at next month’s television trade event Mipcom. Daro Film‘s Pierre Rochat says, “We are honored to bring this powerful drama to this year’s market. Menace is a compelling story with universal appeal and we are sure international buyers will love it.”

Based on the screenplay by Andrew Wreggitt (Shades of Black), Menace recounts the events of 3 March 2005 when four RCMP officers were ambushed and gunned down by a heavily-armed, habitual criminal named James Roszko played by Brian Markinson on his farm near Mayerthorpe, Alberta. Henry Czerny (Clear and Present Danger) stars as a fictional RCMP corporal, and three-time Oscar nominee Diane Ladd Chinatown plays Roszko’s mother. Ken Girotti (24) is the director.

MUMBAI: United Artists CEO Paula Wagner will deliver a keynote address at next month‘s television trade event Mipcom in Cannes, France.

On 9 October, Wagner will share her vision of where the movie business is going and what that means for the traditional model of the Hollywood studio.

United Artists Entertainment was formed in November 2006 under a partnership between Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner and MGM. Wagner and Cruise are regarded as one of the most succesful film production teams in Hollywood.

Another keynote on that day will be delivered by Grupo Televisa president and CEO Emilio Azcarraga. He explains why Televisa is the most dominant Spanish-language media company in the world.

He will convey his company’s global strategies, including its expansion approach via partnerships to service consumers with great multi-platform content. The third keynote on that day will be delivered by NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios Co-chairman Ben Silverman.

He is charged with overseeing all creative aspects of development and programming for NBC and it‘s affiliated studio and digital activities. He will talk about the global broadcasting of content using Hollywood studios‘ latest strategies and technologies.

MUMBAI: The television trade event Mipcom, which takes place next month in Cannes, France, will have a Green TV day on 9 October. A series of conferences will host major international media groups. News Corp, Nat Geo, BSkyB and MTV will talk about how they are tackling green issues. Research company ‘The Wit‘ will offer examples of Green programming from across the world and across the different genres. The Green TV Day will be closed by the conference ‘Pangea Day: Can Film Bring the World Together?‘

Another session on that day will focus on Brands and Content. Brands, agencies and content creators will discuss new ways to reach the empowered consumer. This conference track will feature speakers like @radical.media president entertainment and media Robert Friedman, BBDO Paris and CLM BBDO president Valérie Accary, O&M executive director branded content and entertainment Douglas Scott and Endemol International senior executive director, commercial and creative affairs Mike Morley.

On the opening day 8 October there will be a Superpanel- ‘View From the Top: Media Leaders‘ Roadmap for the Future of TV‘.

As audiences change their viewing habits and technology shakes up the media industry, top TV executives have described the state of play as everything from “schizophrenic” to “my big fat digital future.” This panel of industry leaders sorts out who‘s in control in today‘s new media landscape.

Viewers now have huge sway over what, when and where they watch. Media companies have more outlets than ever, as the world spends trillions of dollars building new Net and wireless conduits that feed TVs, PCs, mobile phones and other gadgets. This creates huge opportunities for new entrants.

Everyone from the Big Telco to Big Internet to the kid next door is stepping in. It all threatens the age-old truism that content is king – or does it? And who will get the advertising?

The panel speakers are Sky Italia CEO Tom Mockridge, Disney-ABC International Worldwide Television and Disney Media Networks president, global distribution Ben Pyne, Orange- France Telecom Group senior VP content services Hervé Payan, Discovery International president and CEO Greg Ricca Babelgum CEO Valerio Zingarelli.

MUMBAI: The global audiovisual and digital market Mipcom 2007 is slated to kick off on 8 October and culminate on 12 October in Cannes, Palais des festivals, France. The 23rd edition of the event is expected to have over 12,000 participants is attendance this year. This year, India has been named the Country of Honour due to its burgeoning media market.

According to Ficci senior director Amita Sarkar, “The aim is to bring the Indian entertainment industry to an international scale. The industry has matured enough now to collaborate with global players and itself become a global player.”

“We are also looking at this event to draw expertise in ideation and cutting edge technology through India‘s largest entertainment event – Frames,” she said.

“Its been three to four years of lobbying, the fact that we invited top dignitaries like Paul Zilk and Paul Johnson who saw the Indian market for themselves the fact that the industry has grown rapidly as well as the opportunity that India offer,” Sarkar added.

Representing India and leading Indian entertainment companies are media moguls including Zee Network and the Essel Group of Companies founder and chairman Subhash Chandra, UTV Group founder and chairman Ronnie Screwvala, Sony Entertainment Television India CEO Kunal Dasgupta and B.A.G Films & Media Ltd MD Anurradha Prasad among others.

The total number of exhibiting firms is 1,625 from across 59 countries worldwide. The number of companies registered is 3786 and the total number of TV buyers this year has touched 3822.

The top 10 biggest stands from across International markets include Telefilm Canada, Warner Bros. International Television, CBS Paramount INT‘L Television, The Marketplace, NBC Universal Television Distribution, TV France International, Freemantlemedia, Disney ABC International Television, Sony Pictures Television International and Discovery Communications Inc.

The top 10 countries from participating companies include UK, USA, France, Canada, Spain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Australia, Korea. This year, two new countries are on board – Antigua and Liechtenstein.

Among the exhibiting companies the top 10 ten countries are UK, USA, France, Spain, Canada, Italy, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Belgium.

MUMBAI: Tangerine Digital known for it content repurposing services for the mobile and web, will visit Mipcom to expand its existing offerings and enter new areas of production.

The venture in which TV18 group founder-promoter Raghav Bahl has a 50 per cent stake, recently created and launched a youth social networking portal Campus18.com and wants to create a footprint in television content production as well.

Says founder CEO Puneet Johar, “We want to be a 360-degree entertainment company offering services across the spectrum – TV, mobile, web and even animation films. Mipcom will be a good opportunity to capitalise on our existing services and expand into newer areas of production.”

Elaborating further on the Mipcom agenda, he says, “We will offer our existing services for the voice and video platforms. Also, we hope to become digital content representatives for new international content providers across all mediums.”

Johar feels that Mipcom 2007 is a significant milestone for Indian television, since the event has selected India as the ‘Country of Honour‘ for this year.

“India as a market is getting increasing prominence. The growth has been equally good across multimedia platforms and it is great chance for Indian content-providers and format owners to showcase our talent and creative services on the international stage,” he says.

Tangerine Digital has been involved providing video services on broadband, voice and video services on mobile for Star India, enabling a voice platform for Mobile ESPN apart from content repurposing and mobile content creation for National Geographic (NGCI) Washington.

It is also in a partnership with Malaysia based Silver Ridge Technologies for the mobile and video space for telecom companies in the south east Asia.

MUMBAI: Indian production house Optimystix is gearing up for Mipcom in a big way. The event is an occasion for the company to meet members of the Sparks Network, a global conglomerate of 14 production houses.

Optimystix director Sanjiv Sharma however insists that he has a lot more on his sleeve. “Of course, Mipcom will be the location of one of the six annual meetings with the Sparks Network where we share creatives in the business. But we have two other highlights in our agenda.”

Elaborating he says, “One will be seeking affiliations and associations with production houses and networks across the globe for adapting international formats. I think Mipcom is a great place to get introduced to international trends in the world of television.”

“The other highlight,” he says, “will be to pitch our home-grown format Nirvana to international broadcasters.”

Sharma says that Nirvana was rated as one of the top five formats in Mipcom 2006. “Presently through the Sparks network, Nirvana is being used in several territories including the US, France, Finland by international broadcasters. We hope to engage in active dialogues with more international broadcasters for spreading Nirvana across the globe,” he says.

Apart from Nirvana, Optimystix will pitch two more home-grown formats ideated by his in-house creative team. “This year, since India is the ‘Country of honour‘, I think there will be a high visibility for Indian media houses. We are in talks with Ficci officials about deciding what value we can add to the Indian contingent for Mipcom. Since it is a government led initiative, international broadcast networks will definitely look at the event more seriously than ever before,” he says.

Optimystix has already produced format shows – Kisme Kitna Hai Dum, Khuljaa Sim Sim and Indian Idol – all of which have been adaptations from international formats.

Sharma believes that their experience in handling such formats will give them an edge over others. “With a proven expertise on adapting these formats, I think we will be the preferred distribution partners and production partners for international networks to be their local partners in India,” Sharma says.